Nick Brown

Yesterday I found a tri/bike shop in Corvallis.  “Northwest Multisport” had a surprisingly nice setup and a good selection of bikes and gear for this sleepy town.  I met the owner, Gordo, and he set me up with directions for a 2.5 hour trip.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/11213426

I loved the ride.  Rolling hills and then a flat section through Willimate Valley farmlands.  That’s right.  I live at the end of the Oregon Trail.  You are hard pressed to find light controlled intersections around here, and if it weren’t for the logging trucks, traffic would be non-existent.

Today, my Garmin 705 and www.mapmyride.com was a lifesaver.  I found a bunch of rides starting from Corvallis which random people have stored on line.  I figured out how to download the rides to the Garmin so that I had turn-by-turn directions., making it hard for direction challenged folks like me to get lost.  Score.

I picked the “80 mile” ride that somebody had called “weekend ride”, assuming that only a local staple of a route would deserve that name.  It started on the flat valley floor but started to roll through the first 20 miles.  At mile 22 I entered pine and moss forest and the first of two significant climbs.  2 miles of a 7 to 8 percent grade climbing about 900 feet.  I felt great, was digging the view, forest and switchbacks.  An organized ride was trickling past in the other direction and I had plenty of cyclists to wave and smile at.  Riders seem eager to greet and wave up here.

It took 15 miles to make the descent!  Sweetness!  The road narrowed and turned to one lane, but the pavement was great.  Forest canopy covered over head.  I snapped this pic on a “flatter” portion.

Yea, I’m diggin’ the trees. Corvallis smells like pinesol.

Two hours passed and I ended up in the town of Alsea.  Really its just an intersection and a “merchantile” store.  My bottles were empty so I stopped to buy some Gatorade and water.

I passed on the gizzards.

Any store with a picture of “The Duke” on the wall is alright in my book.

A big cat was guarding the beer.  I don’t need to run into one of these guys on my trail runs.

I left the store and continued on the valley floor.  After a couple miles this ominous view appeared:

It was alright though, I didn’t climb the big hill in the picture.  The road turned left and I got to crawl up a bigger one.  Over six miles I climbed about 1000 feet.  The road was straight and the grade pretty constant and not really very severe.  I could see the peak from a good distance away and I paced my effort up the hill accordingly.  I got the top and started to relax and descend when I noticed my Garmin squaking at me to turn left.  What left?

I doubled back, found the road, and was introduced to Mary’s peak.  This is where the climb really started.  I began the day looking for a steady ride over some moderate rollers, but the Garmin had laid out the challenge and I wasn’t going to back down.  IM or no IM.  The entire climb ended up being 8.6 miles and 1500 feet and included five miles at a 7% grade.  I turned around when the course I had downloaded doubled back on itself but get this….I wasn’t anywhere near the top.  I have found the Corvallis version of Palomar. Mary and I have some business to take care of after Louisville.

The decent?  Wow.  My knuckles haven’t been that white in a while.  Once I was back on the valley floor I kept it steady (I was pretty torched) until I arrived back at my place.  Sweet ride.  I was feeling pretty good about my 70 miles and 5K feet until I got home and saw a tweet from James Walsh claiming 96 miles and 8K+.  Somebody always has to bring it a step further.

Here is the whole ride:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/11270057

Quick run after the ride.  A bit hot for IM pace, but maybe I can hold 7’s or 7:10’s?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/11273822

I get more and more excited about training out here every day.  If anybody down in San Diego wants to make a 1K mile trip to get some training in a different climate, let me know.  Just try to avoid dysentery on the way up, and don’t let anybody steal your oxen.

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